David and I spent September and part of October traveling around various parts of the Midwest to visit friends and family. Although this is the largest chunk of time I've spent in the region since the last time I spent a summer home from college (2004), it still went by way too fast.
After flying in from Australia, I was met at the airport by my lovely chauffeur Aunt Ellen. I spent the next few days visiting with my family in Deerfield and raiding grandma's stash of dark chocolate. The next weekend, David and I, along with some other Earlham friends headed to Asheville, North Carolina for the wedding of our friends Lydia and Walker. Then, I was off to St. Paul, where David met me after a few days. We went to a Twins game, hung out at our cabin in Northern Wisconsin, and ate tons of yummy mom cooking.
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| At the twins game with Dad - they actually won, breaking a 12 game losing streak. |
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| Canoeing in northern Wisconsin |
We then headed to Pittsburgh for a wedding of another couple of friends from Earlham, Zach and Melissa. After that, we chilled out for a bit in South Bend, indulging in more delicious mom food. We swung up to Michigan for one last lovely wedding, which was the last stop on our 2011 Midwest Tour.
Upon returning to Portland, we were lucky to nab a nice little apartment in the southeast of the city, not too far from my sister Leah and her approximately 20 roommates, half of which are animals. I tried to make progress on my thesis, while David tried to convince me to go hiking as much as possible.
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| Returning from a hike on Mt. Hood |
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| We also spent a day on the Oregon Coast and visited the Tillamook Cheese factory, where I picked up an unseemly hitchhiker. |
We took a little mini winter vacation to the Wallowa Mountains in northeast Oregon. We staying in a yurt in a state park and went snowshoeing a lot.
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| Wallowa Lake |
We're now back in Minnesota. Mom put me to work right away making cookies.
Best to all of you in the New Year – we'll be in touch!
